Waterbury #BlackLivesMatter Rally

Since the beginning of 2017, there have been at least eight cases of police brutality, violence and overreach in Connecticut.  At least three young people lost their lives as a result of these encounters. The interactions involved unnecessary and high-speed police car pursuits, as well as lethal, and sometimes deadly force by police against unarmed residents.  

 In March, police shot eighteen-year-old Ra’Shamel Rogers in Waterbury multiple times. Just a few weeks ago, police shot and killed fifteen year old Jayson Negron in Bridgeport. Both were shot by officers on busy city streets after being stopped as suspects in non-violent offenses.  The incidents are shrouded with faulty rationale, questionable actions and incoherent justifications.

The ‘condition of truth is

to allow suffering to speak’

— Adorno in Negative Dialectics

 It is time once again to “pray with our legs” in the words of the great Frederick Douglass.

Join us for a statewide #BlackLivesMatter Rally

on Saturday, June 17^th in Downtown Waterbury at 1 PM

We call on justice-loving freedom fighters to:

• lift our voices
• straighten our backs
• and resist silence and acquiescence.

Under the #BlackLivesMatter banner, Moral Monday CT holds public space for the outpouring of rage, sorrow, grief.  With rallies, protests and acts of civil disobedience, we demand law enforcement and civic accountability. No silence in the face of systematic disrespect and dehumanization! As Dr. Cornel West says, “You speak the truth, expose the lies, but most importantly, you bear witness.”   

Nearly three years after the murder of Michael Brown, and after dozens of police-involved shootings of black and brown young people, we remain a country which tolerates seemingly endless violence against our youth.

Here in Connecticut young people Like #JaysonNegron are gunned down in urban centers at the hands of those sworn to serve and protect. When circumstances of the murders, along with police training and arsenals are questioned, transparency and accountability are nowhere to be found.

‘What are we to do here in Connecticut?’ Our response is “turn up!” Join us as we bear witness to the reality of black and brown people in Waterbury, Bridgeport and throughout Connecticut.

–Bishop John Selders, Jr., CLS, D.D.

#RiseUpWaterbury

#BlackLivesMatterCT

#HandsUpDon’tShootCT

#StopKillingUs

#JaysonNegron #SayHisName |  #JusticeFor Ra’Shamel